


Queen for a Day

by androidkisser



Category: NieR: Automata (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Idiots in Love, Kissing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-11-30 23:13:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11473671
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/androidkisser/pseuds/androidkisser
Summary: His voice was soft, as usual, but this time, it was tinged with concern, and with worry. Understandable, of course. It was too close, this time.





	Queen for a Day

**Author's Note:**

> Just some cute stuff that I felt like writing until I decide what my next major thing is gonna be.   
> Leave a comment if you wanna~

“Alright, so, we'll check your visuals first...”

His voice was soft, as usual, but this time, it was tinged with concern, and with worry. Understandable, of course. It was too close, this time.

The fight with Eve had almost taken him from her again. Almost. She knew, deep down, that she might at some point regret showing such relief and elation, having seen him safe, but a part of her was practically giddy that right now, he could remember a genuine emotion coming from her. He could remember a smile that was just for him, and him alone.

Since she was in her maintenance mode, all she had available to her in terms of communication was to have her answers displayed on 9S's visual feed. Protocol dictated a simple yes or no response, or at the very least a direct answer, but she had been known to deviate from that before.

“It all looks fine to you like this, right? I'm just reloading your settings from last time, since we shouldn't need to recalibrate...”

_**Yes.** _

“Alright, good. Since you can hear me just fine, does anything need adjusting? Any white noise? Is my voice still calming?” he said, finishing with a small laugh that carried a note of nervousness.

She would have allowed him the tiniest of smiles, had she been able to move any part of her body.

_**It's fine. And... yes.** _

“Well, that's good to know,” he said, smiling. “Okay, we just need to test your sensitivity and vibration functions now, so...”

Again, the urge to smile, denied by circumstance. She felt light taps on her forearm, twice in succession.

“You felt that, right?”

A bizarre game that they played, every maintenance. Every time, she'd say no, she didn't feel anything – he'd know she was lying, but he'd play along anyway. It was perhaps their one chance to be playful with each other. Neither would ever acknowledge it after the fact, but they both knew it happened. A shame she needed maintenance so rarely, she thought.

_**… No.** _

“Huh... okay, well, it always takes us a while to get this one right, doesn't it?”

2B felt him lightly squeeze her hand, and then again, slightly more firm the second time. The fact that he didn't let go afterwards did not escape her notice.

“Anything?”

_**No.** _

'No' was what she said, as she felt the warmth from his bare hand, spreading to her own gloved one. 'No' was what she said, as her pulse rate quickened from feeling his fingers gently move against hers with a tenderness she could never have imagined existed.

For a moment, she felt her mind relapse to a time when she would have engaged in this sort of thing openly. In the privacy of her quarters, with no pods, and no recordings, alone with him – there was no place safer, no place she would rather be, and so she could let her guard down, even if it was just the tiniest bit.

“Well, maybe there's – it could be the uniform, you know? I always said they made them too thick,” he said, another nervous giggle on the edge of his lips.

She knew that he knew there was absolutely zero chance of that being the case. He knew that she knew that, too. Just another little dance around their feelings. Still, she remained silent, or whatever the equivalent of visual silence was.

She felt him slip his hand under the very edge of her skirt, but then... nothing. It was as if he was still deliberating if this was a good idea or not after all. Soon after, he apparently had decided that it was, as she felt the lightest graze of his fingertips right above the stocking on her left leg.

“Still nothing?” he said, his breath quickening. The quiver in his voice betrayed his excitement, as it always did.

Oh, she felt much more than nothing. So much more. His gentle touch sent tingles from head to toe, and all she wanted was for him to continue. There was no-one else she would allow this close to her, even in the past. But he... he had been there for her through everything. She wished she could have said she was at all surprised when he had been the one to intercept her distress call, and hacked into machine lifeforms in the factory, just to secure her an escape route. He had still been recovering, then, from his injuries from the battle with Grün, and subsequent capture by Adam, and yet she was his first priority, as usual. She wished she could say that she didn't know who her saviour was during that last battle with Eve – but as soon as she caught a glimpse of the flight unit speeding ever downwards, she knew it could only be him.

_**Only a little.** _

She waited for his response to her attempt at teasing, but found herself disappointed. He said nothing, and he lifted his fingers from her skin. She could have sworn a sigh escaped her lips, despite having no control over her breathing. He was probably just finishing up the final calibrations, recording the data. She'd come to her senses soon enough, and go back to being the person she hated to be. As it always was.

And then, she felt something new. Something different. Something she had never felt before, during any of their maintenance sessions. His breath, warm, unsteady, on her face. Her pulse quickened like never before, and she felt her processors spinning overtime.

_**9S?** _

Again, no answer.

Or at least, the answer didn't come in the form of a verbal response. His mouth met with hers, briefly, before he pulled away, breathing heavily. She heard him whisper her name, before he moved back in, brushing the soft skin of his lips against hers, taking in her taste, taking in the fullness of her lips, taking in everything he could. She ached to reach out to him when he pulled away again.

“Did... did you feel that?”

_**… Yes.** _

“It's okay, right?”

His voice was filled with such trepidation and anxiety that it didn't even take her a second to put forth her response. Even if she didn't know how to react, or how to handle the situation, or what to say when she came around properly, she wouldn't let him doubt himself. He hadn't misread anything, and he hadn't done anything she herself didn't want. He'd been through enough lately without her adding crippling self-loathing to his list.

_**It's okay.** _

His sigh of relief lifted the tension from the room instantly.

“I've wanted to do that for so long, I just...”

_**I know.** _

“Y-you do? Well, I mean, I guess it's not a huge surprise, but...” he trailed off. “Well, we should probably finish up the diagnostics, 21O's gonna get mad at me if I'm late to another one of her own personal briefings...”

Wait, why was he so desperate to end their meeting so suddenly? Should she not have mentioned that she knew? Wasn't this supposed to go differently, after something like that? Should she have feigned surprise? Should she have said something else? _'Do it again?'_ How she wished that she wasn't immobilised right now. Not to mention sending him off to _her_ , right after something like that. She couldn't read his operator at all. 2B was certain she had some kind of a non-professional interest in him, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Either way, she couldn't let him go. Not after that. Not after the rift between them had been healed, even if just for a time.

_**It'll take as long as it takes. I'm sure she'll understand.** _

“Well, yeah, you say that, but...”

_**9S. Don't make me spell it out. Please. Stay with me.** _

He paused for a moment, and she could almost hear his mind working overtime to try to understand and come to terms with how and why everything hadn't gone horrifically wrong.

“You're not mad?”

_**I'm not mad.** _

“Haha, okay, I just... wow, it's kinda hard to believe I actually...”

She couldn't help but agree with that. She couldn't believe that he actually, either. Now though, she had no idea what to say. This wasn't her area of expertise. Nor was it his, come to think of it. Perhaps it could have been, if she didn't keep swatting away his advances like an insect.

It wasn't like him to be lost for words, either. She didn't want to interrupt his train of thought. If his mind was even half as full of questions as hers was, she didn't want to pull him out of it. And so they stayed in silence, for a time.

The silence was broken with the softest, gentlest sound, and the most wonderful sensation. Had she been able to lift her head to look down at him, she would have seen his head lowered to that pale, soft skin of her thigh, his lips still pressed lightly against it. Not that she needed to, though. The sensations told her enough of the story. He continued to kiss along the very top of her stocking, the fleshy part of her thigh pushed outwards from the tightness of it.

“Is this okay too?” he asked, without raising his head. His breathing was unsteady again.

_**Yes, it's okay.** _

She tried to make her answer look more confident in text than it would have been, had she been able to voice it. She knew she'd practically have squeaked if she could.

His hands fumbled for something that wasn't her thighs, and she puzzled for a moment trying to figure out what the sound was. It took her until she felt the laces on the back of her boots being lightly tugged to realise that he intended to take them off.

She could have protested, and truthfully, half of her wanted to. The half that knew she was setting herself up for the mother of all falls, the half of her that was trying to protect the delicate little flower of a girl that she really was. She fought against it. She wanted to be closer to him. In a way, she was thankful that he was the one that was doing all of the hard work, overcoming himself to do what he'd always wanted. Selfish as it was, she wasn't sure if she could have done the same, were their situations reversed, no matter how much she might have wanted it.

He lifted one of her boots gently from her leg, and she assumed the other one would soon be to follow, if she was reading his intentions correctly. She was wrong, though. She felt his fingers curling around the top of her stocking, tugging it downwards.

She couldn't tell if she was panicked or excited. It was everything she wanted, for him to feel comfortable enough around her to act on the impulses he had obviously been keeping under wraps for so long, but... she had no idea how to act. Even when she knew she had no obligation to act, or say anything, even in text form, she was terrified. Was he expecting feedback? Did he want instructions? Praise? Encouragement? Why this, anyway? Did he feel like this was the safest option, if he wanted to explore more of her body? Desperately, she tried to recall whether exposing anything below her thighs was considered a taboo in human terms. She wished she'd spent more time listening to 6O recount her relationship woes, now.

His sharp intake of breath as he peeled the stocking from her foot told her everything she needed to know – that this was something that made him happy. She had never paid much attention to her own body, and so she wasn't sure if he had, either. For the longest time, she didn't care what body she had, or what frame she happened to be in, so long as she could carry out her missions unimpeded. After spending so much time with 9S, though... strange thoughts had begun to manifest in her mind. What if they decided to move her personality data into a different model? Would he care if she shared the same sort of body as he did? The concept of 'gender' didn't really exist to androids, but surely, they all had preferences on how their partner in these sorts of situations should look?

No sooner had those thoughts ran a circuit around her mind, she dispelled the ideas immediately. She was so hung up on such human thoughts that the sheer idiocy of them hadn't occurred to her until she processed them herself. From the way he was caressing her calf, she could tell that she was _definitely_ his type. Whatever his preferences were, she was certainly performing admirably in his mental score sheet. That much she knew.

Not that knowing it helped her stop being so flustered, as she felt his lips press against the bottom of her foot. Even she, who was only slightly aware of the intricacies of situations like this – purely by virtue of being forced to look at such data by others – knew it was a subservient thing to do. Is that how he saw himself? Beneath her? Only worthy of... no, that wasn't it. She was embarrassed at the realisation, and felt her internal temperature rising to dangerous levels. He wasn't putting himself beneath her, he was putting her on a pedestal, practically _worshipping_ her. His hands continued to hold her leg upright, and his fingertips continued to stroke all over the milky-white skin.

She desperately wanted to squirm, or let out a sound that would let him know that she understood. Putting that into text would be too formal. It would look odd, she decided. So she settled on something else.

_**I...can feel that, in case you were wondering.** _

She heard him laugh, and she wondered if he was as awestruck by the events unfolding currently as she was. His laugh faded quickly enough, as he resumed what he was doing. Or well, almost what he was doing. How she wished she could have moaned as she felt the tip of his tongue run a line up her sole. How she wished she could have told him how he didn't have to do this, just so she could hear him reply that it was because he _wanted to_ , almost indignantly.

She saw him lift a hand from her calf, and thought nothing of it as it hovered in the air – until he lifted his head to tell her, “I uh, ended the maintenance procedure, so you know...”

Her gasp as she came to her senses terrified her. Why had he done that? Did he want her to do something for him, too? She shifted nervously on the bed. Everything felt so different now that she had the power to stop him.

Except she didn't _want_ to stop him. So much had been shared in the last weeks that it felt as if they had never been parted, even once, by her job, or her orders. She felt her breathing quicken, now that it was back in her control, which she prayed he wouldn't take as a bad sign.

Even though she was mentally ready to accept his feelings, dealing with them physically was another thing entirely. He would trail feather light kisses down her leg, over and over, and she would fight the urge to recoil every time.

“9S...” she said, eventually.

“Hey,” he said, lifting his head to look up at her. He smiled softly. “If you're not comfortable, it's fine, I'm sorry. That's kinda why I took you out of maintenance... I didn't want you to feel pressured, you know?”

Thinking of her as always.

“Aren't you scared?” she asked, voice quivering.

“Of what?”

“This,” she whispered.

“No,” he replied softly. “I mean, it's a little awkward, but...”

Well, she was glad he at least felt a little awkward.

“A little,” she echoed, gently.

“You mean so much to me, you know, 2B,” he said, making her breath hitch in her throat. “I'd really do anything for you, so I just...”

His hands massaged her calf, and the lower half of her foot as he spoke. His touch relaxed her, as well as terrifying her. His hands were touching places they had never touched before. Her skin was being touched by someone other than herself. It just wouldn't sink in.

“I thought I'd lost you,” she managed to voice, at last.

“You'd never lose me,” he said, smiling. “Even if we had to start over, I'm pretty sure I'd fall for you all over again.”

Hearing him say that almost pushed her to tears, but she wouldn't let this moment be a sad one. Bittersweet for her, perhaps, but not melancholy.

“I'm sure of it too,” was all she could manage.

He planted another kiss on her foot, and this time, she could hold in her own curiosity no longer.

“Why this?”

“Uh, old world data... said some things, so I just... well, I guess it makes a lot less sense if I don't explain it, right?”

“Right,” she replied, a matching smile on her own face.

“Well, there was this old custom – I mean, really old – where uh... well, humans would kiss the foot of their leader, like a queen or something, and... well, it was supposed to show respect, gratitude, uh... neediness, submission, that kind of thing.”

That amused her a little. Neediness? That much was something she didn't need him to tell her.

“W-well,” he went on, “maybe it doesn't quite apply to a situation like this, but... it's not like those things aren't true...”

“So, I'm your queen, then?” she asked, barely able to keep her face from spreading into a wide grin.

“I wouldn't argue,” was his response. It was a joke, but the sincerity permeated it.

God, how she wished this innocent moment could last forever. Couldn't the others handle the rest of this war? Couldn't the two of them just stay here, in this room, forever?

The thought of him seeing her as someone to be revered was a wonderful one, though. It washed over her, almost alleviating her worries entirely in a blissful instant. She knew she didn't deserve it, but still, couldn't she allow herself, just this once?

She lightly lifted her leg from his grasp, painting a puzzled expression on his face as she did. And then, she did something she didn't think she had the confidence for, but her inner desires screamed for regardless.

“Open?” she whispered, pressing her toes against his lips. It was phrased as a question, and the intonation said it was a question, but he knew it wasn't a question. It was most definitely an order.

He obliged, taking the furthest and largest of the dainty few into his mouth. She could tell from the way that he lightly lapped at the underside that he truly did see her as some kind of perfection. She could tell from the way he lightly cupped her leg again that he saw her as something fragile, delicate, something to be protected. Despite her capabilities on the field, he wasn't wrong. She _was_ fragile. She _did_ need protecting, and she would have trusted none else but him to do that.

She pulled her leg away from him then, drawing a light sound of disappointment and mild protest from him.

“Come here,” she said, quietly. There was something she wanted far more than to toy with him.

With a look of disbelief on his face, he slowly crawled his way up the bed, coming to rest, sitting up, by her side.

“I was having fun,” he said, pouting through a smile.

She pushed herself up on one arm, and looked him in the eyes. She saw so much in them that she felt herself almost tearing up again. With her free hand, she cupped his cheek in her palm, and then leaned forward to kiss him this time.

It was entirely different, being able to kiss him back. Being able to bite his bottom lip, to break away briefly to lick the tip of his nose and make him giggle again.

Emotions were not to be kept to oneself, she decided, there and then, as she pulled him to her side, and wrapped her arms around him.

“So uh –”

“Don't,” she said, holding him tighter. She didn't want to think about 'what now', or 'so, when do we' or 'how can we'.

Seemingly, he could tell what she was afraid of.

“I wasn't going to,” he whispered. “I just wanted to tell you that you're my world, 2B...”

“Oh.”

“Mm,” he murmured, sinking his head into her shoulder, his breath warm and comforting.

“And you mine,” she replied. She felt him shift around a bit to get closer to her. There was no longer a need for words, so long as they could remain like this.

Of course, just because there wasn't a need for words didn't mean that 9S would keep his mouth shut.

“I meant it, you know,” he said, in a barely audible whisper. “I'd do anything you asked.”

“Anything?”

“Anything, 2B...”

“Then stay with me, Nines.”

 


End file.
